The Anxiety thread

[Tia]

Hey Guys!

Didn't knowin which forum to post this so I tried here.

I thought we needed an anxiety thread where we all can write about what gives us anxiety and maybe tip each other on how to feel better, if we can. Mostly this is thought to be a thread where you can check in and see others have the same so you feel less lonely, I know that would help me at least, to see one isn't alone. So let's give it a shot!

 

[Tia]

I'll start: Today, like the past coupal of months, I have anxiety because I recently got disability fulltime, and I'm scared I'll lay like this: alone and abandoned for the rest of my life, the loneliness scares me. When I worked I at least got the social part of life. Anyone recognise this?

 

[kat0465]

HI Tia,
although i havent tried to get my disability yet ( still in denial) i always think about how im gonna handle this if it's forever. and yes it gives me major anxiety, and some depression.
i haven't worked in 3 years and i miss it!!! the social thing, and also i can't contribute to the household anymore that alone is enough for major anxiety!
i try to take it ONE day at a time.but honestly if i didnt have meds for the anxiety i'd probably be nuts with worry by now.
are you being treated for your anxiety?? i hope the anxiety thing gets better for ya, theres lots of really nice people here.and that helps keep us social, even if were not face to face.

Take care,
Kat

 

[Tia]

Hmm, your posts are really interesting because the majority (of what I've found) in people with ME have anxiety in different degrees and I've thought about this last time tonight and came to the conclusion that I had it even when I was in a "happy" fase of my life in my teens.. So I think it's connected to the illness with the explanation that the virus messes up the substances in the brain and therefor we get anxiety.. Well that and of course of natural reasons; we are often isolated and lonely, but that's natural to get anxious about. Am I right here or just out in the blue?

Ps: The support this forum gives one, with the kind people here and the answers you get and how they follow the science about this, is.. God, I'm in lack of words. This REALLY helps me. <3

 

[pamb]

I'm here as a caregiver with a housebound but not bedbound husband, CFS for 10 years. Obviously there is a ton of stuff to rightfully be anxious about with CFS, but sadly, it has been quite noticeable lately that he is anxious about everything. And if there is nothing to be anxious about he'll find something to be anxious about. I'm really starting to worry it is becoming a serious mental illness symptom. He's always had the tired but wired thing going on, thus is already taking bromazepam daily and a couple things to help sleep, all pretty much in the same family.

I don't know what's up with the hyper anxiety: is it maybe drug withdrawal as he's been very slowly increasing the amount of anxiety meds? Is it maybe from eating too much sugar? (which I have not been as strict about lately) or ?? Any ideas? Is anyone else having severe anxiety to the point of it being quite debilitating?

 

[hollie9]

My husband, who did not have CFS, had anxiety that kept getting worse. Lexapro, an antidepressant with a benefit of reducing anxiety, totally cured him.

I've had anxiey and panic attacks in the past and know that the fear of getting more panic attacks causes anxiety in itself. This keeps making the anxiety worse and worse, the panic attacks scarier and scarier, bigger and bigger.

This is going to sound crazy but I was cured of anxiety and panic attacks by a book from Claire Weeks, Hope and Health for Your Nerves. My husband wouldn't read it , didn't believe it would help so got on Lexapro. If you want to investigate the book look at the reviews on Amazon and see how many people were cured with it. It's quite old but you can get it used for a quarter+ shipping. When I read it I could barely drive due to anxiety, it was debilitating.

 

[*GG*]

I'll start: Today, like the past coupal of months, I have anxiety because I recently got disability fulltime, and I'm scared I'll lay like this: alone and abandoned for the rest of my life, the loneliness scares me. When I worked I at least got the social part of life. Anyone recognise this?

Perhaps you could donate some time so that you keep some social ties.? And perhaps people should consider trying meditation or something like it for their anxiety? Hope this helps!

GG

 

[pamb]

This is going to sound crazy but I was cured of anxiety and panic attacks by a book from Claire Weeks, Hope and Health for Your Nerves.

Thanks Hollie ~ I've just ordered it used from Amazon UK. Reading is pretty hard for John but he can take it a page or two at a time. I'll also note Lexapro, as he has not tried it before, however he's had very bad reactions to other antidepressants so that is a last resort. I see Claire has a couple newer books out as well, so if he manages to read this one I'll get the others next. All fingers crossed as getting the anxiety under control could make such a huge difference to our lives.

 

[justy]

I have had severe debilitating anxiety every time i have had a major relapse. I now have it more or less under control, mainly through meditation, relaxation, diet, herbs and rest and time to heal. However i ha a massive reaction to an antidepressant last year and have become agoraphobic since then. This is improving slowly, but i cant go out on my own and havent driven on my own for over a year now, whcih is made worse by the fact that i live in a really remote place, cant walk anywhere, so pretty much trapped.
I have decided some time ago not to worry about "curing" the agoraphobia until my M.E improves, which it is slowly doing. The problem is every ime i start to feel well enough to tackle the phobia i start to do too much and have a crash.
I have also reently learnt that lots of others with M.E feel too vulnerable to go out much alone and they dont think f it as agoraphobia, but just feeling too unwell. -its a hard one, but i am determined to get there. I have to take t really easy because otherwise the stress of the extra anxiety causes my body to go haywire and end up back o unable to do anything much at all.

 

[pamb]

Hi Justy,

Agoraphobia is certainly an interesting perspective/development. Certainly my husband has not wanted to go anywhere for quiet some time 'because he feels unwell', or just very unsure of himself in public as he has so much sensory overwhelm and often misses out chunks of conversation if more than one other person involved. We never thought of it as agoraphobia either. I'm so sorry to hear you had a setback after antidepressants. Darned, but this thing is so individual it is just a crap shoot to know what is best. I hope you can be feeling better sooner rather than later.

 

[hollie9]

Thanks Hollie ~ I've just ordered it used from Amazon UK. Reading is pretty hard for John but he can take it a page or two at a time. I'll also note Lexapro, as he has not tried it before, however he's had very bad reactions to other antidepressants so that is a last resort. I see Claire has a couple newer books out as well, so if he manages to read this one I'll get the others next. All fingers crossed as getting the anxiety under control could make such a huge difference to our lives.

pamb, I think just the first book should be enough, I believe that's what the reviewers on Amazon think too. For this method to work, one has to go through a bit of a process...once you learn that the anxiety is caused by adrenaline circulating in your body and it can only last a short amount of minutes, you have to let the next anxiety feeling just wash over you. I would be driving in a big city and get an "attack", I'd pull over to the side of the road and just keep saying to myself..."this is adrenaline, it can only stay in my body X minutes so just hang on" and eventually it subsided. After a few months of this, the anxiety lessened until it finally just went away. Now if I ever feel anxiety I just ignore it, I am the boss of it now. The book gives you the comfort zone to be able to do this, but for some people it might be too scarey or they want an instant cure.

I know how it is to have bad reactions to antidepressants, I can't take them myself. But I haven't ever tried the really new ones like Lexapro. My husband had no side effects at all from Lexapro, so you never know.

 

[Tia]

I've looked into doing some charity but I don't have the energy and it doesn't seem to exist where I live. You need education for everything around here, even the animalshelter wouldn't take anyone in. :O

I also read about about managing anxiety, called: "The worry cure" But I don't have enough focus to be able to read much.. I also had a real bad experience with antidepressants this summer where I had panic at a 9 out of ten for weeks without a break, so i know that for me it's not a few minutes, that i can handle, but it's twenty four seven, everyday, all day. It's not GAD either because I know what causes it: it's the isolation. I need to have a network of people around me and I don't. And being all alone scares the living crap out of me because i've been alone for so long. I've also tried CBT for this but it didn't help, neither did psycotherapy. I DO however talk to someone from church who's just great, but it's way to seldom to do any difference, and she can't see me more often than that. It's like I need a friend to be here or just someone I can talk to... How do you guys that suffer from the loneliness survive?

 

[Misfit Toy]

pamb...I was like your husband and it was my adrenals. When my adrenals crashed due to this illness, I was anxious about everything. EVERYTHING. I was a mess and nothing you could say would make it better. Once I got my adrenals under control, that feeling lessened. It seems mental. I thought I was mental. I was so anxious, I was nuts and tyrosine helped a lot with that. Tyrosine is a supplement. Norival is great for anxiety and sleep. One of the best supplements I ever took. It helps the adrenals. If you can, get him on it. If you read the book Adrenal Fatigue...that helped me a lot. Antidepressants didn't do much.

I worry all the time about money. I feel that one day I am going to be totally broke and living in a trailer. This is a serious fear....but it's subsided. I have gotten to the point that if I ever live in a trailer, it will be ok. My friends all laugh about it, but I know what it's like to be without money and to worry about where the next dollar is. I have been so sick and unable to work. Right now, things are good, but that may not last. You just have to live for the moment and try and let all the rest fade away.

I practice a meditative exercise where I put all of my worries on a ship and envision the ship just sailing away as I watch it. It physically and mentally calms me.

 

[lcollins64]

I'm glad to see this thread. I have had this "DD" CFIDS for 21+ years. Seems like I should know all there is to know, huh? No, I don't. I too suffer from extreme anxiety. I take Klonopin at night and sometimes during the day. Don't like to; but sometimes there is no other choice. My biggest thing about anxiety is being alone. I cannot even stand the thought. My mother is elderly and frail and I am her primary caregiver; which is not helping any of my symptoms of CFIDS, I know, but I feel that if I put her in a nursing home; it will be a death sentence for her. Plus, in the earlier years she was always the one that I could count of to "be there" for me during the really bad times of this illness. I don't know how to handle this. When I think about what will happen when she passes away I feel like I will go over the edge. My lovng, concerned daughter is taking me to see a psychologist tomorrow; but he doesn't take Medicare; so I don't have much money to spare. I need some feedback from all of you. All of this has gotten considerably worse after I had a hysterectomy 3 years ago. I'm still trying to get my hormones straight. I also am now hypothyroid; but have been unable to take the meds due to adverse reactions (raises my blood pressure (which is usually low) makes my heart beat too fast. Now dr. says adrenal fatigue and wants me to try a product called Cortisol Manager and another called Kavinace. I will see if I can afford them. Also he wants me to do an iodine test; but got it in the mail and read where Medicare doesn't pay for this either. Well heck, how in the world am I supposed to do this with what I get from Soc Sec? I am so grateful for what I do get from Soc Sec; it keeps a roof over my head and most of the bills paid. Since it is based on my income from 1989; well you get the picture pretty easily, there is not much wiggle room there for the "extras" such as doctors that want to do tests that Medicare doesn't pay for. My daughter is going to order me the book from Claire Weekes, I'll give that a whirl. Y'all tell me what helps y'all most with your anxiety. Thanks for reading. Didn't mean to write a book.

 

[caledonia]

There are different causes for anxiety in ME/CFS. One is a whacked out autonomic nervous system. Another one is the adrenals. Another is chemical sensitivities. Another is situational.

If you have #1, you'll most likely need to be on some kind of med and/or a combination of supplements. For #2 the adrenals can be tested and treated. It can take a long time for the adrenals to heal, so in the meantime, meds and/or supplements may be needed.

For #3, avoidance is a good place to start. I've tried neutralization drops, which were effective, but you'll need to find an environmental medicine specialist to get them. I've had the best results reducing chemical sensitivities (and the anxiety caused by encountering chemicals) by building glutathione by doing Rich Vank's Methylation Protocol.

For #4, CBT, meditation and EFT (emotional freedom technique) can all be helpful. In fact, EFT is my go-to method for any breakthrough anxiety.

Meditation is good training for learning to let go, and not be "grasping" about how things should be or how you want them to be.

I think there is a difference between "I feel too unwell to go out" which is logical and wise, and agoraphobia, which is more like "I am absolutely panic stricken about going out". I've had both. The agoraphobia was the last straw, and that's when I went on meds for anxiety/panic attacks.

Money, or lack thereof, is my #1 major concern. Mostly money for food, bills, etc. I'm always short and scrambling to come up with an extra hundred or more at the end of the month.

 

[justy]

There are different causes for anxiety in ME/CFS. One is a whacked out autonomic nervous system. Another one is the adrenals. Another is chemical sensitivities. Another is situational.

If you have #1, you'll most likely need to be on some kind of med and/or a combination of supplements. For #2 the adrenals can be tested and treated. It can take a long time for the adrenals to heal, so in the meantime, meds and/or supplements may be needed.

For #3, avoidance is a good place to start. I've tried neutralization drops, which were effective, but you'll need to find an environmental medicine specialist to get them. I've had the best results reducing chemical sensitivities (and the anxiety caused by encountering chemicals) by building glutathione by doing Rich Vank's Methylation Protocol.

For #4, CBT, meditation and EFT (emotional freedom technique) can all be helpful. In fact, EFT is my go-to method for any breakthrough anxiety.

Meditation is good training for learning to let go, and not be "grasping" about how things should be or how you want them to be.

I think there is a difference between "I feel too unwell to go out" which is logical and wise, and agoraphobia, which is more like "I am absolutely panic stricken about going out". I've had both. The agoraphobia was the last straw, and that's when I went on meds for anxiety/panic attacks.

Money, or lack thereof, is my #1 major concern. Mostly money for food, bills, etc. I'm always short and scrambling to come up with an extra hundred or more at the end of the month.

This is great, a very concise way of summing it all up. For me i think i had all the above situations. My adrenals got really whacked out by being kept on a too high dose of inhaled corticosteroids for years, plus i had an extreme reaction to antidepressants 14 months ago which left me with a kind of extreme panic disorder where i was panicking continuously and waking at night sweating and panicking for months.
Using All of your ideas for correcting the different problems i am finally getting there with the anxiety being under control. I now have the residue of panic when i try to go too far alone, although at one point i couldnt even stay at home alone, but now i am o.k with that.
I really do think a multipronged approach is best, addressing as many of these issues as is possible at once - i have worked damn hard to get this far.

I know i have a low red cell glutathione level - and have not tried the methylation protocol yet, but just taking high dose vit C and selenium has been helping a bit. I need to get rid of some heavy metals build up first i think(?)

 

[Victoria]

As I've mentioned elsewhere on the forum, Bach Rescue Remedy is one of my best 'natural' treatments for anxiety, panic, nerves or whatever. It eventually resolved a scare I had a couple of months ago when I woke with chest pain & pain shooting down my left arm. My BP was 285/93 (if I remember rightly).

It was a very scary early morning wake up call.

I can't recommend Bach Rescue Remedy highly enough.

And the best part is that it's cheap & something you can take as many times as you like (unless you're an alcoholic - it's an alcohol based flower essence tincture. Avoid it if there is a predisposition to alcohol abuse in your family).

At around Aust $18.95 for the smallest size bottle, it's worth a try. I put 2 drops on my tongue every few minutes when I had the chest pain & high BP. It's now available in spray form - I have both the spray & tincture at home & another bottle always in my handbag when I go out.

I also take it before surgery or any other nerve wracking procedure. It certainly calmed me down before I had a lumbar puncture back in mid 1998. It was scary having a whopping big needle placed in between your vertabrae while curled up in a foetal position.

I have use it on & off for some 25 years. There are other Bach Flower remedies which address anxiety of an unknown origin.

And of course, I used it extensively when I was forced to quit full-time work in Feb this year with debts & worries about finances.

 

[Glynis Steele]

I have not got CFS, but a few years ago had terrible anxiety problems, felt like panic attacks, and very anxious. My dr prescribed propranolol, a beta blocker, which was wonderful. I had to stop eventually, as I had sleeping problems and vivid dreams on it, couldn't cope with the lack of sleep. It did work well for the symptms, though.

Glynis

 

[pamb]

Thanks Tia, for starting this very informative, and oddly comforting, thread. I really was at my wit's end and now have several more options to try. Amazon shipped the book today and the process as you've described it Hollie9, seems like something John could grasp.

Spitfire, I'll be looking for tyrosine and or Norival on iherb tomorrow (they are great for shipping to France - max $60 per shipment gets through customs) and Caldedonia, thanks for the concise summary. Step by step is so helpful when one is feeling overwhelmed.

G'nite from France,
Pam and John

 

[*GG*]

I've looked into doing some charity but I don't have the energy and it doesn't seem to exist where I live. You need education for everything around here, even the animalshelter wouldn't take anyone in. :O
QUOTE]

Sorry my advice wasn't helpful.

Perhaps you could move to someplace "closer" with a larger population, so you would have more opportunities. Or perhaps Scandinavia is similar to where you are at?

GG